Things that Children Ask AU
by DragonAceSg7
Summary: Warnings: suggestions Alternate Timeline/Alternate Universe; completely post SFN2 so consider whole series for spoilers. Overall is T for later chapter dealing with a medical crisis but nothing graphic. Individual chps have specific ratings, none above T. common characters: Nikola Tesla, Helen Magnus-Tesla, Dana Tesla, Will Zimmerman, Henry Foss, Erika, OC Lady Lirdra
1. Things Children Ask

**Another Bingo prompt to share. I did an AU for my wild card. Takes place end of SFN2  
**

**notes:  
**

**Dragi - beloved in Serbian  
Agapatos - beloved in Greek  
mališa - little one in Serbian**

**Italics text is quoted from the ep.  
**

**Dana is named after Nikola's bother, Dane, who died when they were both children from an accident.  
**

* * *

_"No secrets," Helen smiled as she heard her protege rounding the corner, "I broke our deal. Can you ever forgive me?"_

_Will shook his head, "I wish it were that easy."_

_"What if I offered you a chance to explore a world you've been trying to see since you were a child," Helen clasped her hands tighter behind her back, her smile growing, "oh right, you already have a job."_

_"Had a job," Will corrected, "I quite SCUI last week."_

_"Well then," Helen gave Will her back and started to walk away, "you might want to see this."_

_Will was too curious not to follow._

_His mouth dropped open, "Magnus..."_

_"Do you like it?" Helen asked as he stepped up to join her._

_"I get a raise, right?" Will had to ask._

_"Absolutely, not," Helen grinned._

_Will shook his head again as they exchanged glances._

_"Shall we begin?" Helen asked, as if it were the most simple statement ever._

Will just sort of nodded as he walked down the path to the huge new Sanctuary.

Will was hoping Magnus wasn't talking for the moment, he was still too stunned to really take in anymore input. The path was flanked by water on either sides, he quickly noticed fresh water bound abnormals moving freely around them.

"How... I mean, when?" Will looked up, how far up did it go? It was big enough to need its own transportation system? "Okay, I know when but, wow," he sort of continued, half talking to himself.

Helen smiled and shook her head.

"Mommy!" was heard down the path. A small child with long, dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail was racing towards them. She was dressed in black and dark purple, her shirt had a glittery mermaid and little silver birds clipped in her hair to hold her bangs back.

"Huh?" Will blinked.

"Dana!" Helen laughed and scooped up the small person, "I told you to wait in the playroom."

The girl, that Will was getting was Dana, wow she had such bright blue eyes and, uh, wait, fangs? Did he see fangs?

Anyway, the girl giggled, "I know, we couldn't wait!"

"We?" Will sort of asked then looked as he heard more running, "Tesla?"

"See?" Dana pointed.

Nikola stopped in front of them, "sorry, Dragi, she tricked me into hide-and-seek."

"I didn't trick, daddy," Dana giggled, "I asked nicely."

"D-daddy?" Will stuttered.

"I'm sure you did, little one," Helen hugged her daughter tight.

Dana blinked her blue eyes at Will, "are you Dr. Expendable?"

Nikola winced, he was busted.

Helen gave Nikola a look that said they'd talk later.

"Ah, I'm Dr. Zimmerman," Will held out his hand, "I work with Dr. Magnus."

"Huh?" Dana blinked, "oh you mean mommy?"

"Yes," Will nodded.

"Oh," Dana grabbed Will's hand and shook it briefly, "I'm Dana Ashley Tesla."

"Nice to meet you," Will gave a wave. He blinked as Dana seemed to wipe her hand off on her shirt for a moment.

"Dana, dear, will you go back with Daddy, I need to finish showing Dr. Zimmerman around," Helen asked.

"Okay, mommy," Dana hugged tight then reached over for Daddy to take her.

"We'll see you later, dragi," Nikola kissed Helen's cheek then headed off with his daughter holding onto his shoulders.

Will couldn't help it, he saw some sort of ring on Tesla's hand but didn't get a good look.

"See you soon, Agapatos, little one," Helen promised.

Will had to look, he just had to, and there it was, a very modest silver band with three tiny sapphires inlayed so they were flat over the top, on Helen's ring finger on her left hand.

"So, apparently the secrets haven't stopped yet?" Will asked with a sigh.

Helen closed her eyes and took a breath, "I couldn't tell you about her for the same reason I couldn't tell about all this. And this wasn't exactly how I planned on introducing you to our daughter."

"So, you and Tesla, married?" Will asked.

"We exchanged vows, yes," Helen answered and resumed walking. She wasn't having this conversation on the entryway.

"I mean, Tesla? Is this why you fought me all those times?" Will followed.

"No," Helen had to count, "myself before I followed Adam back in time knew none of this. And before you start judging myself or Nikola, he had to live the last four years away from here so I couldn't influence the timeline further. He didn't even know if he would live to get back to see our daughter so you can stuff your judgment on that right now."

"So what happened?" Will asked as they entered an elevator and they headed up.

"I ran into a problem that I needed Nikola's help for," Helen explained, thumb spinning her ring absently a few times, having missed it the last so many months, "I went and retrieved him from India and brought him here. The last I myself got to see him is before I sent him up six months before my previous self met him in Rome."

"He must have known that Ashley would die," Will scrambled out after Helen as she exited and headed down a hallway.

"He wasn't sure how long it would be before my timeline linked up," Helen set her hand on a panel and a door unlocked. She gestured for Will to walk in first, "for all he knew, he would die before she did."

"You didn't tell him anything?" Will walked in and realized this must have been Helen's office. The furniture was much more modern and the room was a bit brighter than her old one but the layout was damn familiar.

"I told him only what little he had to know," Helen sighed, "and that is the end of what I will explain about my personal relationship with Nikola for the moment."

"Fine," Will grabbed a seat, "so, this place..."

"It's the way I always wanted the Sanctuary to be. Allowing non-dangerous abnormals to be free, to enjoy their culture, raise their families, to have this be a home," Helen walked behind her desk and sat in a rather comfy looking chair.

"Guess this will take some getting used to," Will nodded.

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Helen smiled, "Now then, your questions?"

"Well," Will shifted to get more comfortable, "let's start with what in the hell I'll be doing."

"Of course," Helen smoothed her skirt then began to answer what she could of Will's inquires.

* * *

"Daddy?" Dana walked over to where her father was paging through one of the storybooks.

"Yes, mališa?" Nikola set the book down.

"Why is Dr. Zimmerman here?" Dana climbed up onto the sofa next to Nikola.

"Mommy needs him here," Nikola set his hand on top of her head a moment.

"Why?" Dana asked, "she wasn't happy when he was asking stuff. I could tell."

"I don't have an answer, little one," Nikola responded honestly.

"Oh," Dana sat back to think on this a bit.

* * *

After a good two hours of explanation and then showing Will around, Helen was finally finding her way back to her family.

"Look, daddy," Dana smiled as she held up her drawing.

"Nice drawing of a supercollider, mališa," Nikola smiled.

"Daddy!" Dana giggled, "it's not a collider!"

"Oh?" Nikola tilted his head, "reactor?"

"No!" Dana giggled harder, "daddy!"

"Okay okay," Nikola crouched down to Dana's level, "let's see," he examined the paper again.

Dana gave Nikola's arm a poke, "come on, daddy, it's your lab!"

"Oh, is that what it is?" Nikola pretended to be surprised.

"Yes!" Dana point, "that's you, that's the workbenches, and your computer, and that's the big window!"

"That's me?" Nikola took the paper, "aren't I taller?"

"No, that looks right to me," Helen chimed in from the doorway to the playroom.

"Mommy!" Dana scrambled from her little table and ran to Helen who hugged her tight.

"Hello, little one," Helen kissed Dana's cheek then picked her up, "sorry that took so long."

Nikola walked over, "thought we'd have to mount a rescue."

"Almost wish you had," Helen gave Nikola a quick kiss.

"Mommy," Dana tried to get Helen's attention again.

"Yes, Dana?" Helen looked at her as the three of them went to sit down.

"I asked Daddy why Dr. Zimmerman is here and he didn't have an answer, do you?" Dana's blue eyes were as inquisitive as her father's and as bright as her mother's.

"I need him here," Helen set Dana between herself and Nikola.

"Yeah, but, why?" Dana asked again.

Helen bit her lip because right at that moment, she didn't have an answer either.


	2. Boring Papers

**Another fic shared from Bingo  
**

**The person who normally minds Dana during the day is ill.  
**

**Dana is waiting for mommy to be done with the millions of papers.  
**

**Rating: G  
**

**also, Dana is named after Nikola's brother who died while young, Dane (sometimes called Daniel)  
**

**Yes, Lirdra is an OC, she is NOT a marry sue nor does she have any romance with existing characters.  
**

* * *

An average day in the new Sanctuary usually involved Helen Magnus-Tesla dealing with all manner of reports, requests, news and inquiries. For the most part, these were now all, thankfully, digital.

Yes, she missed her 'old school' papers and books but most days, she didn't miss the clutter of what a busy day did to her desk.

So the fact that she was almost buried in paperwork was mind boggling.

And there was another complication to getting her work done.

A rubber band went sailing through the air and knocked over a neatly placed thimble.

"Yes!" Little Dana Ashley Tesla jumped up and cheered, "three for three!"

Helen looked over at her daughter, dark hair put into a braid today. She was dressed in a t-shirt that wasn't the right size yet but had been a gift from her Uncle Henry. The shirt was black with a silver wolf on the front and the word 'pack' on the back. She also was in dark jeans that she was about to grow out of.

Clutched in Dana's hand was a rubber band launcher constructed of pencils, more rubber bands and a few paper clips.

And she was certainly wearing her daddy's grin at the moment. Just this side of cute to not be smug and add to any scolding that may or may not be coming her way.

"Dana, dear, I know you're anxious but mommy is working," Helen reached for the next paper.

Dana was walking over to the desk to reset the thimble, "I promise to not shoot at the window or the vases."

"Sweetheart, that's hardly the point," Helen rubbed the back of her neck, feeling a tension headache starting.

"Oh," Dana blinked her bright blue eyes and gave her mother her attention, "well, what can I do?"

"Can't you sit quietly for a little bit longer?" Helen tried.

"But, mommy, I've been sitting all morning," Dana cocked her head and looked so dramatic.

"Little one it's not even been an hour, and you spent a good chunk of that constructing your weapon," Helen pointed out.

"Yeah, mine is better than daddy's his shoots too far to the right," Dana held it up proudly.

Helen fought a snicker at hearing that.

Dana went back to the chair and tried to do as her mother asked.

"Lirdra would be sick today," Helen tried to work a little faster. Were these papers multiplying while she sat there?

"Mom, is Lady Lirdra okay?" Dana asked as she tugged a fresh rubber band over the shooter but didn't fire it, "she was never sick when I was really little and daddy was gone."

"Lirdra will be fine, little one," Helen promised, though it was confusing. In the years Helen had known the avian abnormal she had never seen her have more than a cold. Though this was a far different place than the tropical Sanctuary she had been in the last ten or so years.

"Mommy?" Dana was resisting the urge to fire her rubber band.

"Yes, little one?" Helen looked over again.

"What are all those papers?" Dana pointed, "you always have papers on your desk but you said it wasn't like my schoolwork."

"Reports dear," Helen looked back down at the current one.

"But, I thought all the reports were on the computers," Dana accidentally let go of the rubber band while taught and it flew forward, smacking a stack of files, "oops."

Helen laughed softly, "some things are still being converted to the computers, little one."

"Where did all the paper come from?" Dana asked. There weren't a lot of printers or photocopiers in the new Sanctuary.

"I'm... not actually sure where some of them are from," Helen admitted.

Dana giggled, "maybe they grew!"

"Little one, you might be right," Helen pushed away from her desk with a smile and stood, "come on, let's go see if we can steal some ice cream." She walked around the desk and held out her hand.

"Yay!" Dana hurried over and grabbed her mother's hand.


End file.
